Land vehicles use clutches to disengage the transmission from the drive shaft during gear changes and when the vehicle is brought to a halt.
Heavy duty land vehicles such as dump trucks, tractor trailer trucks, and the like usually have a clutch brake to retard and stop the rotation of the drive shaft of the clutch upon disengagement of the main clutch. This allows the shifting of gears more effectively.
The clutch brake is connected through linkages to the clutch pedal so that it is operated in unison with the clutch of the vehicle. As the clutch and the associated clutch brake begin to wear, the clutch brake becomes inoperative prior to the clutch wearing out, quite often requiring a number of clutch brake replacements prior to the main clutch being replaced.
Heretofore, the installation of new or rebuilt clutch brakes necessitated partial disassembly of the drive shaft of the main clutch which is difficult to accomplish as well as being time consuming and expensive.
In an effort to overcome the problem of partial disassembly of clutch drive shaft to replace the clutch brake in heavy duty land vehicles, replacement clutch brakes have been developed that are separable into two halves. When the original clutch brake is removed, the halves are placed on opposite sides of the drive shaft and pins are inserted to hold the same together. The problem with these replacement clutch brakes is that the original clutch brake must be removed by cutting with an air chisel or other means. This is extremely difficult and laborious and great care must be taken not to damage the drive shaft and transmission face.